Diandra Interviews Joy Downer: Music Is Always Moody

Joy Downer’s Paper Moon is an intimate look on her life and love journeys, which means it scopes through many moods, especially bad ones. For some reason, it is easier to hold on to our light, and place our darkness in a song, which is what Joy Downer does in her tracks. She makes them emotional purges meant to pour out feelings of grief so she can then feel smoothed for joy.  In our interview, she discusses how she embraced her life enough to change its mood. 

Diandra How do you feel Paper Moon embodies who you are? What are the personal qualities you share with it?

Joy Downer: Each song tells a personal story and feeling of mine. Almost like diary entries. I suppose the qualities I share with the songs are right there upon listening. I would say not just in my lyrics, but the feelings in the counter melodies and textures of the instrumentation. 
Plastic Wrap – Joy Downer OFFICIAL VIDEO

Diandra: It took two years to make this record. What is one specific experience of those years, you transferred into a song, which one?

Joy Downer: I would say that the most relevant song specific to that two year window would be “Getaway Car.” After spending years doing the same thing, but expecting things to change, I was feeling like I wanted to run away from the life I was in. That was no way to live. I gave myself a reality check, looked into the mirror, and told myself I needed to be responsible for my own change, and stop waiting to be told I was enough (by all the gatekeepers I thought held power over me). I was stuck in an old story, and it was a lie. I had the power to be my own getaway car from my own (comfortable) patterns. I made the decision to stop feeling sorry for myself and start making music my full time job: no more excuses. 

Diandra: How did you feel, as an artist, releasing a debut amidst a pandemic and protests?  Do you feel your record embodies the sort of emotional rollercoaster many are undergoing?

Joy Downer: I feel like music is the most powerful connector. So with the state of the world currently, I would say it’s a great time for more connection. And of course, it’s my hope that my songs and experiences will offer comfort to anyone going through any similar feelings. 

Diandra: Music is about personal delivery to you. Name a few artists whose music feels personal to you and why?

Joy Downer: Music is so amazing in the way that it takes on a different personal meaning to each listener. We listen to it to elevate moods, or to match moods, or, at least, that’s what I do. David Bowie, Queen, Johnny Cash, Beck, The Killers, Blondie, Prince, Bob Dylan, Dolly Parton, ABBA, St Vincent, The Cure, The Beach Boys: to name a lot of my long time favorites. Each is an artist I found at a time in my life where I felt understood in what I was hearing. I felt less alone, hopeful, and as inspired. 
Joy Downers by Joy Downer

Diandra: What is your favorite childhood memory with music?

Joy Downer: I remember visiting my grandparents in Desert Hot Springs as a child (as we would do lots in the summer). My grandpa, Roy, would be out in his garage singing Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. My love for country music started with him. I didn’t know he didn’t write the songs he was singing until years later. Not that it mattered because, the way he sang and played, resonated all the same. 

Diandra: You write your songs according to your moods. What are some of the moods listeners will encounter on your debut?

Joy Downer: I write a lot of the time by way of my current mood. It’s almost a way to navigate and process, or just communicate simply what I feel. I would say my preferred mood is anything that registers as a positive one. That said, I know there’s no light without dark. It’s really a matter of finding an acceptance and appreciation for the full spectrum of moods. 

Diandra: As someone who loves to travel, what are the locations that most inspire music to you?

Joy Downer: I don’t know think I would say travel and music inspiration go hand in hand for me. When I’m traveling, I enjoy the freedom that comes with being fully present in the new sights and sounds around me. I’m usually very content and present when I travel, it’s when I am more stagnant. I don’t even have the need or inspiration to create. 
PAPER MOON – Joy Downer

Diandra: In “A SONG YOU’D NEVER WANT TO HEAR” you think about your 17-year-old self. What are the emotions and experiences that most stand out of that year?

The emotions that stand out that year would be heartbreak, loss, and growth. 

Diandra:  As a writer of love songs, what has music taught you about how you wish to be loved?

Joy Downer: I’m still figuring some of that out.  I am still learning the way I want to be loved and give love. What I thought I needed 10 years ago is so different then how I feel now. A lot of my life, I was ruled by the need to be loved. As where now I’m more focused on how I can show my love to others, and show up for them in meaningful ways. Less receiving of love, more giving. This change came about in a big way when I had my daughter. 

Diandra: What are your favorite films, books, series, or even art pieces, you wish you could soundtrack?

Joy Downer: Oh, I never thought about soundtracking things like books or art but I like that thought. I’d like to put music to Matisse’s cutouts or Morris Louis’ Veils paintings. Things like Westworld or a Wes Anderson movie would be up there for me.
Joy Downer – Getaway Car

Diandra: “Dreamy” is a word often associated to your music. What is the best you dream you have ever had? What is one dream you wish to come true and one that already has?

Joy Downer: The best dream I ever had was every dream where I could fly wherever I wanted and had the power to take pain away from someone. Obviously, wish that could come true. 

But a real dream I have is to be able to make a living doing what I love. It’s my goal to have the financial ability to take care of my family and build a compound of treehouses that are connected by bridges and zip lines: kind of a boutique Swiss Family Robinson situation. It would have crops and animals and all that self-sufficient goodness. 

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